Key-operated unlocking of automotive power-operated key-cylinder-less door locks

ABSTRACT

A motor vehicle comprising side doors, a bonnet and a boot lid, power-operated key-cylinder-less locks associated with all the side doors, a power-operated lock associated with the boot lid, a key-cylinder lock associated with the bonnet, and an electronic control system configured to sense operation of the key-cylinder lock by means of a mechanical key and, upon determining a specific operation of the key-cylinder lock by means of a mechanical key, responsively unlock one or more of the power-operated key-cylinder-less locks.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/581,579, filed on Apr. 28, 2017, now allowed, which claims priorityto European Patent Application No. 16167828.9 filed on Apr. 29, 2016,each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention relates to key-operated unlocking of automotivepower-operated key-cylinder-less door locks.

BACKGROUND

As is known, in the automotive industry cost reduction has always beenone of the key elements for the growth, development and competitivenessof those operating in this field.

Among the costs that have always been attempted to contain are those,which are anything but negligible, that are ascribable to themanufacture of right-hand drive motor vehicles and left-hand drive motorvehicles.

The object of the present invention is therefore to provide a solutionthat enables costs ascribable to this differentiation to be contained.

According to the present invention, a motor vehicle is thereforeprovided, as defined in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying FIGURE shows a block diagram of an automotiveelectronic control system configured to implement the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawing to enable those skilled in the art to embody anduse it. The generic principles described herein can be applied to otherembodiments and applications without departing from the scope of thepresent invention, as defined in the appended claims. Thus, the presentinvention is intended not to be limited to the described embodiments,but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principlesand features described and claimed herein.

The present invention arises from the observation of how one of the manysolutions adopted in the automotive field for the reduction of costs andpertaining to bonnet (hood) opening also contributes to reducingelements of differentiation between right-hand drive motor vehicles andleft-hand drive motor vehicles, with a consequent reduction in the costsascribable thereto.

In particular, in the majority of motor vehicles, the bonnet lock is ofa key-cylinder-less type and is unlocked from the passenger compartmentvia an unlocking mechanism comprising a lever arranged in the passengercompartment, close to the driver's seat, and a linkage, generallycomprising a Bowden cable, to unlock the bonnet lock in response to alever operation. For safety reasons, unlocking of the bonnet lock failsto result in the bonnet being opened, but only in a partial raising ofthe bonnet to provide external access to a further lever that must bemanually operated for the complete opening of the bonnet.

The arrangement of the bonnet unlocking lever and the consequentarrangement of the associated linkage result in this unlocking mechanismbeing necessarily different in right-hand drive motor vehicles withrespect to left-hand drive motor vehicles, thereby representing one ofthe costs ascribable to this differentiation.

Motor vehicles of some manufacturers fail to have this unlockingmechanism and are instead provided with a purely mechanical, i.e.,non-power-operated, key-cylinder bonnet lock, so as to allow the bonnetto be opened with a mechanical key, typically represented by the motorvehicle's ignition key. In particular, in these motor vehicles, therotation of the mechanical key in one direction, for exampleanticlockwise, causes the bonnet lock to unlock, with consequent partialraising of the bonnet, while rotation of the mechanical key in the otherdirection, clockwise in the example considered, causes the bonnet toopen completely, i.e. the function that, in those systems where theunlocking is operated from the passenger compartment via a dedicatedunlocking lever, is performed manually by operating the lever thatbecomes accessible from the outside after the bonnet is partiallyraised.

Omission of the unlocking mechanism of the bonnet lock thus represents asolution that could contribute to reducing the elements ofdifferentiation between right-hand drive motor vehicles and left-handdrive motor vehicles, with consequent benefits in terms of costsascribable to this differentiation.

The present invention specifically exploits the presence of thesekey-cylinder bonnet locks to further reduce the costs ascribable to thedifferentiation between right-hand drive motor vehicles and left-handdrive motor vehicles.

Basically, the present invention provides for equipping the motorvehicle side doors and, where not already and where there is interest indoing so, also the boot (trunk) lid (and optionally the fuel tank fillerhatch), with power-operated key-cylinder-less locks and thenimplementing the manual unlocking of one or more of these power-operatedkey-cylinder-less locks in a programmable manner, depending on which ofthese locks it is wished to unlock, in response to a specific operationof the bonnet lock by means of a mechanical key and exploiting theremotely controllable central locking system.

Manual unlocking of the power-operated key-cylinder-less locks can beimplemented in response to the same operation of the bonnet lockcylinder by means of the mechanical key as that performed to open thebonnet, or, expediently, in response to a different operation of thebonnet lock cylinder by means of the mechanical key from that performedto open the bonnet.

In an embodiment, cylinder rotation in a given direction, for exampleclockwise, causes both the bonnet lock and those power-operated locksfor which the key-operated central unlocking function has beenprogrammed to unlock.

In a different embodiment, cylinder rotation in a first direction, forexample clockwise, causes the bonnet lock to unlock, and possibly alsoto open, while cylinder rotation in a second direction, opposite to thefirst direction, anticlockwise in the example considered, causes thosepower-operated locks for which the key-operated central unlockingfunction has been programmed to unlock.

The bonnet lock cylinder rotation direction can be sensed by means ofelectronic and/or mechanical sensors.

Furthermore, although the key-cylinder bonnet lock in motor vehiclescurrently on the market is a non-power-operated lock, this is not anessential feature for the purposes of reducing the present invention topractice, and so if conditions so permit, nothing prevents the bonnetlock from being also a power-operated lock.

The accompanying FIGURE shows a non-limitative example of a blockdiagram of an electronic control system ECS to control power-operatedlocks PDL in a motor vehicle MV according to present invention.

In particular, the accompanying FIGURE shows a motor vehicle MV equippedwith four side doors (two front doors and two rear doors, left andright, respectively), referenced by SD, a bonnet, referenced by BND, anda boot lid, referenced by BTD, and wherein all of the side doors SD, aswell as the boot lid BTD, are fitted with power-operatedkey-cylinder-less locks PDL, while the bonnet BND is fitted with anon-power-operated key-cylinder lock KDL.

The electronic control system ECS, only those parts of which that arepertinent to the reduction of the present invention to practice areshown in the accompanying FIGURE, basically comprises an electroniccontrol unit ECU connected to the power-operated key-cylinder-less locksPDL and to the non-power-operated key-cylinder lock KDL, and a bodycomputer BC connected to the electronic control unit ECU via anautomotive on-board communication network NET, for example CAN, FlexRayor the like, to receive quantities indicative of the static or dynamicoperating state of on-vehicle systems/components and responsively causethe power-operated key-cylinder-less locks PDL to open and close via theelectronic control unit ECU,

In particular, the electronic control unit ECU is programmed to:

-   -   expediently allow the central opening and closing for the        power-operated key-cylinder-less locks PDL by means of the        remote control RC to be programmed, i.e. which of these, for        example all of them, or only those of the front side doors, or        only that of the driver's door, etc., are centrally locked and        unlocked in response to the operation of a remote control RC        integrated in a motor vehicle electronic ignition key EIK,        which, as is known, also integrates a mechanical key MK to open        the non-power-operated key-cylinder lock KDL of the bonnet BND;    -   expediently allow central unlocking of the power-operated        key-cylinder-less locks PDL by means of the mechanical key MK to        be programmed, i.e. which of these are centrally unlocked in        response to the manual operation of the non-power-operated        key-cylinder lock KDL of the bonnet BND by means of the        mechanical key MK, wherein the power-operated key-cylinder-less        locks PDL may be either the same as, or different from, those        that are centrally opened and closed in response to operation of        the remote control RC integrated in the electronic ignition key        EIK;    -   centrally open and close the power-operated key-cylinder-less        locks PDL in response to operation of the remote control RC        integrated in the electronic ignition key EIK;    -   sense manual operation of the non-power-operated key-cylinder        lock KDL of the bonnet BND by means of the mechanical key MK;        and    -   upon determining a specific manual operation of the        non-power-operated key-cylinder lock KDL of the bonnet BND by        means of a mechanical key MK, responsively unlock those        power-operated key-cylinder-less locks PDL for which the central        unlocking by means of the mechanical key MK is programmed.

The above description allows the advantages that the present inventionallows to achieve to be appreciated.

Firstly, the present invention enables lock cylinders for mechanicalkeys to be completely omitted from the motor vehicles side doors, thusrepresenting a significant contribution to reducing costs ascribable todifferentiation between right-hand drive motor vehicles and left-handdrive motor vehicles.

Secondly, opening the bonnet by means of a mechanical key enables theengine compartment to be accessed from the outside of the motor vehicleand the motor vehicle's electric battery (or battery pack) to bereplaced or recharged in the event of a battery malfunction thatcompromise the operation of the central locking and unlocking system, orin the event of malfunction of the remote control integrated in theignition key that compromise activation of the central locking andunlocking system.

Based on the above description, those skilled in the art can appreciatehow modifications and variants can be made to present invention, withoutdeparting from the scope defined in the appended claims.

In particular, those skilled in the art can also appreciate how thepresent invention may find application even on those motor vehicles MVwhere the boot lid BTD is fitted with a key-cylinder lock KDL, which canbe provided in alternative or in addition to the key-cylinder lock KDLof the bonnet BND and expediently is also power-operated so as to becentrally openable and closable.

Hence, in these motor vehicles, the power-operated key-cylinder-lesslocks PDL may (also) be unlock in response to a specific operation ofthe key-cylinder lock KDL of the boot lid BTD by means of the mechanicalkey MK. This operation may be alternative to that of the bonnet lock,should it be a key-cylinder-less lock and, hence, unlockable by means ofan unlocking lever in the passenger compartment, or in addition to thatof the bonnet lock, should it be a key-cylinder lock.

Moreover, it should be noted that there are also motor vehicles where,for safety or space reasons, the electrical battery (or battery pack) isarranged in the boot or beneath the boot loading floor. Furthermore, forthe same or other reasons, in the future the electrical battery (orbattery pack) in hybrid or electric motor vehicles might also bearranged in a dedicated battery compartment different from the enginecompartment and the luggage compartment.

Based on the above description, those skilled in the art may appreciatehow the present invention may also find application in these situations.In fact, by fitting the boot lid BTD, if not already provided with one,or the dedicated battery compartment with a key-cylinder lock, to causethem to be accessible from the outside of the motor vehicle via amechanical key and allow the replacement or recharging of the electricalbattery (or battery pack) in the above-described situations ofmalfunction thereof, the power-operated key-cylinder-less locks may thenbe unlocked in response to a specific operation of this key-cylinderlock by means of the mechanical key.

Furthermore, the present invention may also find application on thosemotor vehicles that when manufactured were not originally fitted withcentral unlocking and locking of the door and boot locks and thisfunctionality was subsequently installed using special aftermarketcentral unlocking and locking kits.

In the end, the present invention may also find application on thosemotor vehicles where the power-operated locks of the doors and boot lidare centrally unlocked and locked using different technologies from thatdescribed, in particular through a wired or wireless lock-to-lockcommunication, which can be organized according to a master-slavehierarchy or to form an ad-hoc network.

What is claimed is:
 1. A motor vehicle comprising: side doors;power-operated locks associated with one or more of the side doors; atleast one of a hood or a trunk lid separate from the side doors; and anelectronic control system to centrally lock and unlock one or more ofthe power-operated locks in response to a command imparted by means of amechanical key or an electronic key; wherein power-operatedkey-cylinder-less locks are associated with all the side doors of themotor vehicle; further comprising a key-cylinder hood or trunk lid lockassociated with at least one of the hood or trunk lid and wherein thekey-cylinder lock is a non-power-operated lock; wherein each of the sidedoors do not include a key-cylinder lock; wherein the electronic controlsystem is further configured to sense operation of the key-cylinder lockassociated with at least one of the hood or trunk lid by means of amechanical key, and, upon determining a specific operation of thekey-cylinder lock by means of the mechanical key, responsively, tounlock one or more of the power-operated key-cylinder-less locksassociated with the side doors.
 2. The motor vehicle according to claim1, comprising only a single key-cylinder lock.
 3. The motor vehicleaccording to claim 1, wherein the at least one of the hood or the trunklid is arranged to close a compartment in which an electric energysource of the motor vehicle is housed.
 4. The motor vehicle according toclaim 1, wherein the key-cylinder lock is associated with the hood, anda power-operated lock is associated with the trunk lid.
 5. A motorvehicle comprising: side doors; at least one of a hood or a trunk lidseparate from the side doors; power-operated key-cylinder-less locksassociated with all the side doors; a key-cylinder hood or trunk lidlock associated with at least one of the hood or trunk lid and whereinthe key-cylinder lock is a non-power-operated lock; and an electroniccontrol system to centrally lock and unlock one or more of thepower-operated locks in response to a command imparted by means of amechanical key or an electronic key; wherein the electronic controlsystem is further configured to sense operation of the key-cylinder lockassociated with at least one of the hood or trunk lid by means of amechanical key, and, upon determining a specific operation of thekey-cylinder lock by means of the mechanical key, responsively, tounlock one or more of the power-operated key-cylinder-less locksassociated with the side doors.
 6. The motor vehicle according to claim5, comprising only a single key-cylinder lock.
 7. The motor vehicleaccording to claim 5, wherein the at least one of the hood or the trunklid is arranged to close a compartment in which an electric energysource of the motor vehicle is housed.
 8. The motor vehicle according toclaim 5, wherein the key-cylinder lock is associated with the hood, anda power-operated lock is associated with the trunk lid.